The article debates whether AI should be viewed as a tool or a worker, pushing back against claims that AI is fundamentally different from previous software. While acknowledging the advancements in AI’s abilities, the author argues that, like earlier complex software systems, AI is still directed and supervised by humans and should be considered a tool that empowers people, not a replacement for them. Viewing AI as a worker can undermine human agency and risk repeating historical mistakes where technological gains benefited only a few. The piece stresses the importance of using AI to empower individuals and to more widely distribute the benefits of productivity gains, highlighting that only humans have real stakes and agency in work.
